Displaying items by tag: Boral

Australia: Australian buildings materials company Boral has appointed the head of its US division, Mike Kane, as its new chief executive officer following the departure of Mark Selway in May 2012. Kane will assume the post on 1 October 2012.

Kane joined the company in February 2010 and has executive experience at four other materials companies including US Gypsum, Hanson Building Materials, Johns-Manville and Holcim

"He has spent the past two and a half years significantly realigning the US business to the changed market conditions and positioning Boral to take full advantage of the US market recovery," said chairman Bob Every.

Kane said Boral has an increasingly significant position in the global building materials industry and said its Asian plasterboard unit provides a growth opportunity in that region.

Australia: Boral has reported a 59% fall in second-half profit, hit by weak housing construction in Australia and delays in big resource and road projects. Boral, which removed its chief executive in May 2012, declined to give a fiscal forecast for the year ahead, in light of uncertain market conditions, but said it would update investors at its annual meeting in November 2012.

Net profit for the six months to June 2012 fell to US$35.7m from US$87m a year earlier, as calculated from full year figures. The building products maker issued profit warnings in April 2012 and June 2012.

"Earnings from our Australian business in the six months to June were hit by very weak housing and non-residential building activity, combined with delays and disruption from sustained rainfall across the east coast. The positive impact of price increases was more than offset by much weaker sales volumes in these markets and by higher costs, including from the wet weather," said Boral's chief executive officer, Ross Batstone.

Overall for the year to 30 June 2012 profit, after tax dropped by 42% to US$106m from US$183m. Sales revenue grew by 5%, to US$5.24bn from US$4.94bn, but this excludes the impact of the acquisition of Lafarge's 50% of Boral's stake in their Asian plasterboard joint-venture.

Boral's cement sector reported a slight fall in revenue to US$449m from US$462m, due to a 40% reduction in New South Wales lime volumes, marginally lower cement volumes and broadly flat cement prices. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 12%, to US$124m from US$140m.

For its 2013 outlook Boral expects its cement volumes to be remain flat, with residential demand improvements in the state of North South Wales offset by weakness in Victoria and continued low volumes in South East Queensland. The pricing environment will remain challenging due to the high Australian dollar and low sea freight prices, which allow imports from Asian countries.

Australia: Boral, Australia's leading building materials supplier, has downgraded its overall profit forecast for the second time in two months, saying earnings could be as much as US$75.5m lower than it expected in February 2012. The downgrade comes with predictions that the group will announce asset writedowns when it delivers its full-year result in August 2012.

It is now expected that Boral will post a net profit before significant items for the current financial year in the range of US$100-110m. The company has continued to blame the profit downgrades on bad weather and weak conditions in the property and construction market and said that an early maintenance shutdown at Waurn Ponds Cement Works in Victoria was also weighing on earnings.

Australia: The board of Australian building products firm Boral Ltd has removed the company's chief executive Mark Selway saying that a new leader was needed who could 'harmonise' the company after a two-year restructuring process.

Selway, who has headed Boral since January 2010, oversaw a turnaround involving the sale of about US$986m in assets and cutting capacity in manufacturing plants as the company battled weak housing and construction markets both in Australia and the United States. In April 2012 Boral posted net profit below its own forecast and made an unexpected cut in full-year profit guidance because of heavy rain and wet weather across eastern Australia.

"The board has decided that the stewardship of the company going forward requires a chief executive with a leadership style suited to harmonising the changes that have occurred over the last two years throughout the company," Boral said in a statement. The board said Selway would step down from his role effective immediately, although he would remain employed until 31 July 2012 to help with the transition.

Australian-born Selway, aged 52, started his career in the automotive sector before becoming the international marketing director of Britax International plc at the age of 28. After working for the company in different postings around the world he later joined the board. In 2001, Selway was appointed chief executive of Weir Group plc, a Scottish based engineering equipment company for the oil, gas, mining and power and industrial sectors.